A Rose By Any Other Name...

is still a rose. So let's be honest: there are a lot of people who are using SARS-coV2 to share racist thoughts. If we aren't careful, racism and xenophobia will spread as rapidly as the virus.*

* That's not to say racism and xenophobia aren't endemic to the USA - they are.

There's been an uptick in incidents (both verbal and physical) against folks of Asian descent in the US. [More evidence of this here, here and here.]

So let's be real for a minute. Yes, SARS-coV2 originated in China. But calling it the Chinese virus or the Kung Flu or anything of the like is problematic. We don't call Ebola the "Congo virus", Zika the "Uganda virus", or Hantavirus the "New Mexico virus". We call them by the virus family name or the specific strain. Because that's being scientifically accurate and not xenophobic.

And guess what? It doesn't matter where a virus emerged - new viruses are being discovered every year in locations all over the world - because if a virus is virulent enough, it will spread well beyond the first place it was identified. While it was first discovered in Uganda in 1947, the major outbreak of the Zika virus in 2015-2016 that caused complications like microcephaly in newborns was centered in the Americas. Viruses don't recognize nationality. And neither should our politicians or citizens when discussing the current pandemic. Do better, people.